Q&A: “DEAD SPACE 3″ Executive Producer, Steve Papoutsis

by: David Ian McKendry on: 2013-02-05 15:21:10

The 28th century sci-fi horror blood-bath DEAD SPACE is back
for its third installment, transporting gamers to the icy planet of Tau
Volantis for all new adventures, characters, and a whole host of gory
creatures. Fango spoke with executive producer Steve Papoutsis about the latest
Necromorph jaunt.

Isaac Clarke returns, joined by merciless soldier John
Carver, to chase a risky plan that promises to finally stop the Necromorphs.
Together Clarke and Carver must explore the frozen planet of Tau Volantis and
track down the secret they hope will end the Necromorph plague forever, all
while overcoming avalanches, treacherous ice-climbs, and the violent
wilderness. Facing deadlier evolved enemies and brutal elements, the unlikely
pair must work together to save mankind from the impending apocalypse.

FANGORIA: In DEAD SPACE 3, will we be getting any closer to
an origin story?

STEVE PAPOUTSIS: One
of the big goals with DEAD SPACE 3 was to provide a lot of answers for players
that had been really into the series.
We’ve done a lot of seeding of some mysterious elements, whether it’s
Unitology, the Markers, or the Necromorphs.
We’ve planted seeds throughout the early version of the game and with
DEAD SPACE 3, we really wanted to answer questions. I’m not sure if I’d call it an origin story,
but you’ll definitely get some answers to some elements you’ve encountered if
you’ve been with the game from the beginning.
In addition to that, if you’re not familiar with DEAD SPACE and the
universe of DEAD SPACE, we’ve made it real easy for people to get into game by
including a ‘Previously On’ video. So if
you’re new to DEAD SPACE, you can get caught up.

FANG: You’ve
introduced a new character, Sergeant Carter. Can you tell us a little about
him?

PAPOUTSIS: Sergeant
John Carver is an all new character, and he’s your co-op character. He came from a new graphic novel we’re releasing
called LIBERATION. You’ll actually get
to find out about Carver and his back-story through the course of the game. You’ll
also get to find out something about him in that graphic novel. His background, in a nutshell: he’s a career
military man. He’s also a family man but
he’s always out on missions so that’s put a strain on his relationship. Through the course of DEAD SPACE 3 he has to
deal with the guilt of that. He is a
soldier so he’s more of a hardened kind of guy. You get to see him develop as a
character. When we created him it was
important that he have strengths, weaknesses, and flaws, and in the course of
the journey we see him evolve as a character.

FANG: What kind of
new monsters will we be seeing in DEAD SPACE 3?

PAPOUTSIS: As big
fans of horror movies and science fiction, one of the fun parts of designing
the game is coming up with new enemies to play around with. One of our new enemies is called the Waster (pictured, right), is a multi-state enemy. You see it, it looks very humanoid
but it has disturbing glowing eyes and as it shambles towards you, you have to
take it down using the series’ signature method, which is strategic
dismemberment. Unlike other enemies, now
when you decide to shoot off its arms or head for instance, it will sprout new tentacles
and just start thrashing about trying to kill you. Now, if you
decide to shoot off its lower extremities it will sprout new legs and become a
crawler that’s able to jump about and attack you. So it’s almost like a puzzle when you’re
fighting it.

We also have our Feeder (below), which is a very skinny, almost
mummified looking Necromorph, which is the result of humans being forced to
survive by eating flesh. Another new
enemy is a giant snow beast that you’ll encounter throughout the game It’s very
similar to a crustacean in a way where it has a hard exoskeleton and giant
claws to smack you around with. Also, we
really like the tentacles, so when you get too close it’s maw will open up, and
this giant tentacle will come out and rip the player to pieces.

FANG: What were some of your favorite horror movies that
helped inspire you during the making of DEADS SPACE 3?

PAPOUTSIS: I think
with the DEADS SPACE franchise there’s just so many movies, books, and comics
that have been influential for us. When
you have a group as large as the DEAD SPACE team, you get a lot of different opinions
on the things they like. Some movies
that we clearly all enjoy were John Carpenter’s THE THING and even the recent
remake. People will immediately see the
snow and that will remind them of those movies, which is cool because we love
those movies. Other influences have come
from straight up science fiction like SOLARIS or EVENT HORIZON to horror movies
like HELLRAISER. There are just so many
great science fiction and horror movies out there that we all enjoy. One other thing that I have to make sure that
I mention is HP Lovecraft, he’s always been a big influence on the team.